4.25.2009

I've gone through most of most of my life with a broken on/off switch. Even as a child I could lie awake at night for hours (I remember once counting backwards from one thousand to one); by the time morning would come, I never felt rested and getting out of bed was sheer torture.

In the worst of my depressions, I could literally sleep for 24 to 30 hours. But even when I wasn't depressed, I could easily sleep for 12 to 15 hours and was generally terrified of sleeping through the alarm clock.

In recent months, I've made a new discovery: waking up like a "normal" human being after a good night's sleep. Granted, I need about 10 hours of sleep, but after I've gotten my 10 hours, I can now willingly get out of bed and face the day.

For me, this is a revolutionary experience.

There seems to be a combination of factors at work: finally getting on a relatively regular sleep schedule; finding a combination of bipolar meds that work so that depression isn't wrecking havoc with my sleep; avoiding caffeine in the evenings; and, most interestingly, fish oil.

Um...what was that last one? Fish oil. I only mention it because it seems to be helping to balance my moods, improve my sleep, and eliminate PMS. I haven't had PMS symptoms for the past two months, and the extreme fatigue, irritability, pain and cramps I experienced bordered on PMDD because there were times it was severe enough to be debilitating.

I had a script from the doc but the pharmaeceutical prescription was really expensive, so I'm just taking an over-the-counter one from the drugstore and a single 1000/mg capsule a day seem to be making a huge difference. It's interesting because I wasn't anticipating any benefits from it, I only recently made the fish oil/sleep/PMS/mood stability connection. There weren't any other changes in my meds that would've affected my bipolar, sleep, or menstrual symptoms. It's definitely worth a try.

I was like you when depressed I could stay in bed and sleep forever. Since 4 years I am feeling good and have no sleeping problems anymore. I sleep like a baby in one shot through, but my body changed the hours. Now I go to bed at 10, read a little and then I fall asleep, but between 5 and 6 am my night is over and I am jumping out of my bed, ready to attack the day ! I don't recognize myself !Your cat pictures leave me with my mouth open, I had to yawn !!

So glad to hear you're finally feeling more rested in the AM and that that you've been free of the PMS misery for the past few months. Cheers for finding a winning combination!! The omega 3 fatty acids in fish are believed to have lots of good effects.

Cool, stuff works for ya! And it wasn't some damn expensive prescription. I've been wanting to try fish oil for some arcane reason I've now forgotten (Memory perhaps?) but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

I gave up caffeine abut six months ago and now I fall asleep on the sofa sitting straight up with my head flopped back. Isn't that how the Elephant Man died? I mean, I do have a giant head...

slithy toves

mimsy borogroves

"One thing was certain, that the white kitten had had nothing to do with it--it was the black kitten's fault entirely." (L. Carroll, Through the Looking Glass)
I'm Yankee-Born and Southern-Raised, which makes me kind of Southern Gothic (in the old literary sense of the word). After 15 years in the Big Apple, I spent 4 years on a farm in Michigan raising chickens and llamas and learning to spin, knit, and needle-felt. Now I'm back home in NYC with my much-beloved spouse and one crazy tortiseshell cat. You can also find me on Ravelry.com as okitten.